The Second Indo Pakistani War

THE SECOND INDO-PAKISTANI WARIn 1965 India and Pakistan went to war over Jammu and Kashmīr a second time. Pakistan, dissatisfied with both multilateral and bilateral negotiations, again sought to wrest Jammu and Kashmīr from India through the use of force. This effort failed as India held its ground, and the war ended in a stalemate after almost two months of armed conflict. Although the second war over the territory was shorter than the first, the increased firepower of the two nations resulted in a more deadly war, with a total of about 6,800 battle casualties.

A -Events Before the WarA number of factors precipitated the second conflict over Jammu and Kashmīr. In the wake of a border war between India and China in 1962, efforts by the United States and Britain to settle the territorial dispute had, like the UN mediation process, met with little success. Furthermore, India significantly expanded its defense spending after suffering losses in the border war against China. At a regional level, India had started to integrate Jammu and KashmīrState into the rest of the country, such as bringing it under the jurisdiction of the Indian Supreme Court. All of these factors—the failure of diplomatic efforts, the growth of India’s military, and India’s efforts at integration—provoked Pakistani misgivings about the erosion of its claim to Kashmīr.

When rioting broke out in Srīnagar in December 1963 following the theft of a holy relic from the Hazratbal mosque, the Pakistani leadership construed the anti-Indian tone of the disturbances as a sign of support for the merger of Kashmīr with Pakistan. Accordingly, Pakistani president Muhammad Ayub Khan and his foreign minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, decided to try once again to wrest the territory from India.

B -Major Events During the WarPakistani army personnel disguised as local Kashmīris began to infiltrate into the KashmīrValley in early August 1965. Once they entered the valley, the infiltrators intended to foment a rebellion among Kashmīri Muslims. The strategy, known as Operation Gibraltar, went awry from the very outset, however. The Kashmīris did not respond as expected; instead, they turned the infiltrators over to the local authorities. Accordingly, the Indian army moved to secure the border and on August 15 scored a major victory after a prolonged artillery barrage. Attacks and counterattacks followed in quick succession.

On September 1 the Pakistanis opened a new front in the southern sector, catching Indian forces unprepared. Indian forces responded with air strikes, leading to Pakistani retaliation. On September 5 the Pakistanis made a significant thrust into Indian territory that threatened to cut off Jammu and KashmīrState from the rest of India. The following day Indian troops crossed the international border in the Pakistani province of Punjab near its capital of Lahore. Faced with this threat to Lahore, the Pakistanis launched a counterattack at Khem Karan in the neighboring Indian state of Punjab. This attack, spearheaded by the Pakistani First Armored Division, was anticipated by the Indian forces and failed, with Pakistani forces suffering major losses.

C -Events After the WarBy mid-September the war had reached a stalemate, and the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for a cease-fire. The Indian government accepted the cease-fire resolution on September 21, as did the Pakistani government the following day. The two parties subsequently attended Soviet-hosted peace talks in Toshkent (Tashkent), the capital of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (present-day Uzbekistan). On January 10 the two sides signed the Toshkent Agreement and reestablished the CFL as the de facto border in Jammu and Kashmīr